Dino treatment Tips for blackout

ianf77 · Dec 1, 2015

Hello all, (large post alert. Sorry!)

My sps have been growing really well and still are. However, over the last week or two I have noticed the dreaded Dino algae is taking hold everywhere. I know it's Dino as my snail population is depleting daily and I've id'd it through many picture examples.

So my battle begins...

First of all here is the scenario before this began. I have a 200g+ with sump running a fuge, I run 2 next reef canisters. 1 with gfo and one with rox. I don't run carbon continually. I do run kalk in my top up.

My testing levels have always been good and still are but I believe I may have stripped all nutrients and causing the Dino to outcompete with cheato.

Testing results. Temp always 77-78. SG 1.026, 35ppt. ORP 390-410. PH swing 7.9-8.1. PO4 always Zero on Hanna and salient. NO3 always been 0, undetectable on salifert and Red Sea tests. dKH 7.7-8 always. Ca 430 and Mg 1350. My test results have been consistent the last 6 months.

Lighting is 3xradion pro 30 and 2 MP 40 QD for flow. I recently added 2 more mp 40's to increase flow( initially thinking it was cyano)

I had a bulb fail on my macro glo recently and substituted the bulb with a 15w CFL at 5k whilst I waited for new bulb... This is were I noticed that my cheato ( normally doubling every 2 weeks) had started to brown out. It was this that has led me to believe the Dino's are taking hold.

Today, I have started a 3 day blackout. I have stopped running gfo and carbon. Minimal feeding. Water change ready in 3 days.

I have sps, bta, 5" derasa clam. I am concerned the lack of light may adversely affect my coral etc... Also not sure about running gfo during blackout. I'm actually trying to build up some nutrients as I think that is where this problem is arising(absolutely 0 nutrients)

What tips do you guys have for a blackout period? And acclimatization after day 3?

My sps are healthy and growing great and the clam is very healthy with white growth on shell... Bta not doing great, elegance and torches are fine, ricordia and Yuma fine.

brandon429 · Dec 1, 2015

we must see a full tank shot to give accurate info. the blackout is a safe attempt, it works about 19% of the time. All forms of dino treatment have a ~20% chance of working, per dino treatment threads we've tracked for a good 8 yrs now across all common forums. No matter the approach, its a 20% chance of working and that's better than neomeris which is about .5%

full tank shots let us see many variables primarily sandbed sinking, where they hide to rebound

ianf77 · Dec 1, 2015

Best I could do with my phone.... Lights out

brandon429 · Dec 1, 2015

I give that a 30% chance of being dinos

that morphology is not common for dino invasions

http://reef2reef.com/threads/helpful-method-for-identifying-dinoflagellates.216508/

We should test to see or get a microscope pic if avail. Literally they can be taken by angling a smartphone camera right into a focused objective, ideally although not everyone can get a scope pic this link above is helpful Id. I think you have golden hued cyano, different treatment options then.

The blackout is still harmless to try. Why not amplify it by hitting the tank with some peroxide on the 3rd blackout day when target is stressed the most

The other amplifier for blackouts is hand removing the target 100% via siphon from the entire tank, then blacking out so there's less biomass to require effective action. The least likelihood for any blackout is to leave a mass in the system

Pest algae challenge thread in this forum has doses, and a lysmata cleaner would be the one preclusion to using it, for those who prefer a shrimp over a potential tank fix (they could be held elsewhere while treating if applicable)

brandon429 · Dec 1, 2015

A third amplifier is running a grossly oversized UV system from Amazon 29 day trial or return before during and after blackout

That could easily be diatoms above.

ianf77 · Dec 1, 2015

My first thoughts were cyano... But these shots were taken after a 12 hour lights out. Reason I added 2 more mp 40's.

After my lights on period you can begin to see the snotty bubbles heading for the skies!

Peroxide dosing is not out of the equation as I don't have shrimp in the tank.

Was actually reading up on peroxide. Also spoke with lfs owner near me. He had tried it.

Like anything in this hobby, patience is a virtue. I'm not the type to freak out about things. I have been doing this for a long time and have had my share of nuisances...

A blackout is an easy option to try with relatively little disturbances.

I should test for silicates as well as some point.

Thank you for your responses though.

brandon429 · Dec 1, 2015

consider the amazon trick its pure gold technique. many vendors pre verify about return shipping times, this is fair trade. if I had your issue the first thing would be a uv meant for a pond, not an aquarium, as a 25 daypre eval hookup run with the pre siphon mass removals and peroxide and dark. now that's amplification

if the uv is worth keeping as a stopgap for future issues in a tank this big, don't exercise the return option. number of tanks we've corrected with this is many many.